Peter Brust

Born in 1869, Peter Brust began his architectural career 17 years later as a draftsman for numerous small offices in Milwaukee. Brust would ascend to Chief Draftsman at the Milwaukee firm of Ferry and Clas before the turn of the 20th century.

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Brust, Philipp & Heimerl

After a yearlong trip through Europe with other area architects, Peter returned to Milwaukee and, along with fellow Ferry and Clas colleagues, Richard Phillip and Julius Heimerl, launched a new practice which featured a diverse portfolio of building types.

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Peter Brust, Architect

Brust continued to practice independently beginning in 1927. The practice was renamed Peter Brust, Architect, and Peter relocated his office into the Brumdner building in downtown Milwaukee.

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Brust & Brust

Peter's son Paul was the first to join him in the practice, having interned during summer breaks from his studies at Notre Dame and Columbia University. Prior to joining his father full-time in 1936, Paul worked briefly with the Federal Government. The firm name Brust & Brust first appeared in the Milwaukee City Directory in 1938. John Brust joins his father Peter and brother Paul in the practice in 1945.

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Brust & Zimmerman

Gary Zimmerman joined the Brust & Brust firm in 1965 at the age of 30 as a lead designer. It was evident from the onset that this new "charge" in the design department had a rapport with the firm's clients and an ability to develop new business. In 1973, Gary became the new president and for the first time since 1927, a name other than "Brust" shared the company letterhead.

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Zimmerman Design Group

In 1981, after 75 years of experience in meeting the design needs of a broad base of clients, the firm changed its name to the Zimmerman Design Group. The change better emphasized the firm’s leadership as an organization of top quality design professionals.

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Zimmerman Architectural Studios

What does a business that’s just been awarded one of the highest honors it can achieve from industry peers do to celebrate? For Zimmerman Architectural Studios, which had just been named Architectural Firm Award winner for 2000 – 2001 by the Wisconsin AIA, the highest accolade a member firm can receive, the answer came easily. Seek opportunities to further improve the firm in preparation for the 21st Century.

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The Cowboy Way

My farm boy upbringing and one-room school education, coupled with a regular diet of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, imprinted me with what I now both seriously and humorously understand to be the Cowboy Way. If you Google the “Cowboy Creed,” you’ll find this curious code of conduct which is a mix of the knights of the round table and stuff your mother told you. You’ll find things like, “Always finish what you start, Do what has to be done, Talk less and say more”, and an actual architectural one, “Know where to draw the line.” The one that hits me right between the eyes is: RIDE HARD, SHOOT STRAIGHT and TELL THE TRUTH.

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Zimmerman Architectural Studios is one of the oldest and most successful architectural firms in Wisconsin. Founded in 1906 by Peter Brust, the firm’s early portfolio included churches, schools, convents, sanitariums, offices, stores and residences, with the M&I Bank, Schusters Stores, the Kohler Company complex and Governor Kohler’s home being the firm’s most prominent projects. In 1973 the firm incorporated, and by 1981 the firm had doubled in size. In the following decades, the firm’s notable education, governmental, health care, institutional, recreational and residential portfolio expanded to include a variety of commercial office, industrial, retail and mixed-use projects within the private sector.

In addition, the firm’s comprehensive services grew to include complete engineering, interior design, space planning, land planning and landscape design. The firm ranks among the top four architectural firms in Milwaukee, according to The Business Journal, in each of the last ten years.